0
AH020387 Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary

Mincing words

What does 'mincing' mean in the following sentence:

Mincing words will not change his mind about his decision.

?
  

Top answer

AH020387 Mincing words will not change his mind about his decision. For this idiom, the net is long on examples and short on definitions. " Sometimes when you're trying to persuade someone to do an unpleasant thing, you may feel that if you make it sound less bad than it really is, you'll have a better chance of winning him over.

— Avangi

  • AH020387 Mincing words will not change his mind about his decision.
  • For this idiom, the net is long on examples and short on definitions.
  • " Sometimes when you're trying to persuade someone to do an unpleasant thing, you may feel that if you make it sound less bad than it really is, you'll have a better chance of winning him over.
  • Your sentence claims that this tactic will not work with this person.
  • I think of a line from the first Godfather movie: "I work for a man who wants to hear bad news immediately," or something like that.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0
AH020387Mincing words will not change his mind about his decision.
For this idiom, the net is long on examples and short on definitions.
The only one I found was "to soften the effect of one's words."

Sometimes when you're trying to persuade someone to do an unpleasant thing, you may feel that if you make it sound less bad than it really is
0

Related Questions